Lately I’ve been making a lot of “salads”. I use quotation marks because the salads I make aren’t greens-based; as you are probably already aware, I am not a big fan of regular salads, even though I’m fully aware of how great they are, nutritionally-speaking. Grain-based “salads”, however, are a different story altogether. Quinoa-salad? Yes. Pasta-salad? Double yes!

Any types of salads are great because of their versatility; you can simply take whatever you have on hand, dice it up, add a grain and some seasoning and voila! Today’s Avocado + Tomato Chickpea Couscous Salad was inspired by the large amounts of avocados and tomatoes in my kitchen (thanks to Costco).

Ingredients:
– 1 cup uncooked whole-wheat couscous
– 1 cup vegetable broth
– 1 avocado
– 15 cherry tomatoes
– 1 can chickpeas, aka garbanzo beans (drained and rinsed)
– 1 lemon
– garlic salt + pepper

Directions:
1. Prepare couscous according to package directions, using broth in place of water.
2. Meanwhile, dice avocado, and squeeze the juice of half of the lemon over the diced avocado (to prevent browning).
3. Halve the cherry tomatoes and add to diced avocado. Add the chickpeas to tomatoes and avocado, season with garlic salt and pepper, and lightly toss.
4. Add cooked couscous, squeeze the other half of the lemon over everything, and stir. Add additional garlic salt and pepper to taste.
5. Serve immediately (slightly warm), or cover and refrigerate to serve chilled later. Enjoy!

Serves 6. Nutrition per serving: 237 calories, 7 fat g., 37 carb g. (9 g. fiber), 8 protein g.

*This post was originally published on www.jessicalaurendebry.com. For more from Jessica, be sure to visit her site here.